Tsarnaev jail restrictions defended

10/22/13 9:52 AM EDT

Federal prosecutors are defending special restrictions placed on accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that sharply limit his contact with the outside world.

The restrictions, called Special Administrative Measures, or SAMs, prohibit media interviews, limit social visits to immediate family and place Tsarnaev in what amounts to solitary confinement. The special rules also require defense attorneys to ensure that information they get from him is used only for the purposes of defending him against the 30-count indictment he faces in connection with the April 15 attack in which three people died and scores more were wounded.

"Contrary to Tsarnaev's claim ... there is nothing speculative about his ability to inspire others through his words in light of his past deeds," prosecutors wrote in the brief (posted here). "Among those who have already picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Tsarnaev were the writers and editors of the July 2013 issue of Inspire magazine, a publication of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which lauded Tsarnaev and his brother as heroes and martyrs. ... A Boston Globe article about the Inspire issue noted the existence of a Facebook group calling Tsarnaev a 'brave freedom fighter.'"

The prosecution's legal filing notes that a controversial Rolling Stone cover article about Tsarnaev said it would be a media coup for a news outlet to get an interview with Tsarnaev. The brief also points to a message to Muslims that Tsarnaev allegedly wrote while hiding out in a boat after a police chase and shootout. In the words scrawled on the side of the boat, he wrote: "We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all ... [T]he ummah [i.e., the Muslim people] is beginning to rise. ... Know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven, now how can you compete with that."

"Tsarnaev’s world-wide notoriety as a successful terrorist, coupled with his avowed desire to inspire others and his attempt to do so even under the direst conditions while evading capture, alone provide a reasonable basis for concluding that reasonable restrictions on his freedom to communicate with others are needed to protect the public," the prosecution filing says.

The filing also gives some additional detail about Tsarnaev's incarceration at the Federal Medical Center at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. Tsarnaev is receiving weekly phone calls from family members and gets visits from his defense team roughly every other day, for a total of 80 visits on the 162 days from his arrival at Devens on April 26 to Oct. 2, the date the defense formally objected to the SAMs, according to the government filing. The prosecution says the frequency of defense visits belies the defense claim that Tsarnaev is in "near total isolation."

"Many accommodations have and continue to be made on his account, including the closure of the facility for the protection of counsel and staff during every visit," the prosecution says. The authorities do not explain precisely what they mean by "closure" of the prison, but presumably they mean no other visitors are permitted while Tsarnaev's team is present.

The prosecution's opposition to the defense's motion to lift the restrictions does not explain directly why the government waited until Aug. 27 to impose the SAMs, more than four months after Tsarnaev's arrest and his arrival at the Devens medical facility. However, the Inspire magazine and Rolling Stone publications appear to have triggered some concern within the government. The authorities also argue that it is not proper for O'Toole to rule on the defense motion now since Tsarnaev has yet to formally protest the SAMs through the Bureau of Prisons' internal process.